Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board, Chamber move to work together

Tuesday

Jul 9, 2013 at 4:25 PMJul 9, 2013 at 4:27 PM

The Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board could now have an office and phone at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce building, and some help in industrial recruitment through the city’s two economic development consultants.

by Beverly Majors

The Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board could now have an office and phone at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce building, and some help in industrial recruitment through the city’s two economic development consultants.

IDB and the Chamber will draft a contract that would serve both entities in their efforts to revitalize industrial recruitment now that the Chamber’s partnership with the Oak Ridge Economic Partnership has ended because of budget cuts.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the IDB and the Chamber was presented at Monday’s regular IDB meeting at the Oak Ridge Municipal Building.

With the Chamber taking over some of the IDB’s basic business operations, the IDB can get more organized.

“If we’re sincere about doing industrial recruiting, this is absolutely a no-brainer,” said IDB member Richard Chinn.

IDB Chairman David Wilson said with the space at the Chamber, IDB’s collection of files could be in one place. He said files are now in several locations and are often hard to find. He said former Chairman Bill Biloski had files dating back for years.

“All the legal files are kept by Ken (Krushenski, city attorney) but we have files all over the place,” Wilson said.

“Bill gave me a trunk full,” he said of Biloski, who decided not to seek his position when his term expired last fall. “The objective is to be organized.”

Wilson said under the MOU, the IDB would pay the Chamber $2,080 per month and the Chamber would take over bookkeeping services, as well. With a telephone at the IDB office, prospective clients could be routed to the two consultants — Ray Evans and Steve Jones.

“We have to have professionals” working on recruitment at Horizon Center, where certified sites are already located and more than $900,000 has been spent, he said. “We have to have one target — bringing in companies to increase the tax base and more jobs.”

“This is a by-product of economic development and we are part of it,” member Chris Johnson said. “This is the only natural partnership.”

Wilson called the proposed MOU “a work in progress,” and said it would be reviewed by attorneys for the city and Chamber before he and Chamber President Parker Hardy could sign it.

Only five of the nine-member board attended the meeting, but all five voted in favor of the action. Present in addition to Wilson, Chinn and Johnson, were Lou Dunlap and Hal Osucha.